1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to storm or hurricane reinforcement devices for overhead garage doors. More particularly, it relates to a garage door reinforcement arrangement of a unique construction for supporting and anchoring a garage door from being detached during hurricane or high wind conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is generally well known in the art, multi-panel garage doors are used typically in the construction of residential dwellings and are made of lightweight material such as painted galvanized steel, high density polyethylene, or fiberglass. However, these multi-panel garage doors are susceptible to a particular problem when they are located in geographical areas which experience high velocity winds, such as in an intense storm or hurricane. Under such high velocity winds, the panels of the garage door will be subjected to a continued flexing so as to cause them to separate from the guide tracks and eventually resulting in the garage door being blown out from the door opening. As a result, the residential dwellings will become further damaged by high velocity winds and may possibly be completely destroyed.
In view of this, there have been proposed heretofore in the prior art various types of constructions or arrangements for reinforcing and/or anchoring the garage door to protect against damage from high velocity winds. The prior art appears to be best exemplified in the following U.S. Letters Patent which were developed in a search in the United States Patent and Trademark Office directed to the subject matter of this application:
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,038 issued to S. M. DeCola et al. on Apr. 15, 1977, there is disclosed a garage door bracing arrangement for reinforcing the entire vertical extent of a multi-panel garage door against high velocity winds. The bracing arrangement includes a plurality of door-stiffening column members that are installed between associated upper mounting brackets above the garage opening and lower mounting brackets affixed to the garage floor. The bracing arrangement also includes deflection brackets which attach the door panel hinge joints to the column members so that the entire vertical extent of the garage door is securely braced against high velocity winds.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,694,269 and 6,082,431 issued to S. M. DeCola on Oct. 12, 1999, and Jul. 4, 2000, respectively, there is described a garage door bracing arrangement which consists of a plurality of vertically extending door-stiffening column members which are pivotally attached to upper mounting brackets affixed to garage building structures directly above the garage door opening. Lower mounting brackets are affixed to second ends of the column members and are anchored to the floor directly beneath the upper mounting brackets. The door-stiffening column members are configured as generally hollow, rigid, telescoping sections having longitudinal channels which retain fasteners that project from sides of the telescoping sections. Deflection brackets are used to secure the door-stiffening column members to door panel hinge joints.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,606 issued to D. K. Wegner on Dec. 19, 2000, teaches a reinforcing strut for garage doors which extends the full width of the door across the inside rear face of the door. The reinforcing strut includes substantially straight parallel and widely spaced legs which are joined by a large-radius curved section.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,916 issued to W. Marko on May 14, 2002, shows a building aperture cover reinforcing device which includes an elongated support post having a first end spaced apart from a second end by a middle portion. An engagement pin extends from each end of the post. In use, the first end engagement pin is held in place by a bracket assembly attached to the building aperture upper boundary wall, and the second end engagement pin is held in place by a floor-mounted anchor plate. The middle portion of the support post is secured to the aperture cover by cooperative interaction between linking hooks mounted along the middle portion and corresponding linking plates mounted on the aperture cover.
However, none of the prior art uncovered in the search and as discussed above disclosed a garage door reinforcement arrangement for supporting and anchoring a garage door to a garage door opening like that of the present invention. The garage door reinforcement arrangement includes an I-post beam assembly, a top mounting bracket, and a floor plate. The beam assembly includes an I-post beam having a top end and a bottom end, a top link secured adjacent to the top end, and a bottom catch plate secured adjacent to the bottom end. The top link of the beam is operatively engaged with the top mounting bracket, and the bottom plate of the beam is operatively engaged with the floor plate. A plurality of cable assemblies are placed around the beam at various vertical positions and are secured to horizontal struts associated with the garage door.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a garage door reinforcement arrangement for supporting and anchoring a garage door which is relatively simple and economical to manufacture and assemble, but yet overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art reinforcing arrangements for garage doors.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a garage door reinforcement arrangement which includes an I-post beam assembly that is simple to engage and disengage without the need of tools.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a garage door reinforcement arrangement which is made of relatively lightweight material so as to be easily transported by a single individual person.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a garage door reinforcement arrangement for supporting and anchoring a garage door which includes an I-post beam assembly, a top mounting bracket, a floor plate, and a plurality of cable assemblies.
In accordance with these aims and objectives, there is provided in the present invention a garage door reinforcement arrangement for supporting and anchoring a garage door to a garage door opening. The reinforcement arrangement includes an I-post beam assembly, a top mounting bracket, a floor plate, and a plurality of cable assemblies. The I-post beam assembly consists of an I-post beam having a top end and a bottom end, a top link secured adjacent to the top end, and a bottom catch plate secured adjacent to the bottom end. The top link includes a distal end wall piece and the bottom catch plate has a downwardly-extending tooth portion. The tooth portion is formed with a central through-hole for receiving a threaded pin therein. The top mounting bracket is mounted centrally on a wall surface of a garage building structure between side edges of the garage door opening. The top mounting bracket consists of a base member, an intermediate member secured to the base member, an extending portion secured to the intermediate member, and a protruding portion secured to the base member and aligned below a tip end of the extending portion.
The tip end of the extending portion is spaced outwardly from the base member so as to form a recess therebetween. The distal end wall piece of the top link is received in the recess and retained by the protruding portion of the top mounting bracket. The floor plate is anchored to a garage floor and is aligned directly beneath the top mounting bracket. The floor plate includes a retaining slot for receiving and retaining the tooth portion with the threaded pin of the bottom catch plate. The plurality of cable assemblies are disposed at different vertical positions of the I-post beam and are securely mounted to corresponding horizontal strut members of the garage door.